Rl00 Ready

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1036, 29 July 1930, Page 9

Rloo Ready

GIANT AIRSHIP FOR CANADA Big Experimental Flight AIR EXPERTS WILL ATTEND TRIALS THF giant British airship IvlOO is expected to leave England * today on a flight across the Atlantic to Canada. This excursion is expected to assist in the development of airship ransport, and to prove the possibility of the speedier follownig oi international air routes. llie event is regarded by British air experts as a significant phase in aviation progress.

Iniitcd I’.A. —By Telegraph—Copyright Reed. Noon. RUGBY, Monday. The British airship RIOO returned to Cardington last night after a 24 hours’ cruise over England. Major G. H. Scott expressed himself as completely satisfied with the airship, which will now ride at her mooring mast until the Air Ministry’s orders are received to start on her trip to Canada. The airship will probably leave Cardington for Canada tomorrow morning. The flight is expected to be completed in three days. A mooring tower at * Montreal has been provided by the Canadian Government. The airship will be welcomed there by members, of the Canadian Government. Squadron-Leader Booth will command the airship. The Director of Airship Development, Wing-Com-mander Colmore, as well as Major Scott, who commanded the R 34 on her double Atlantic crossing several years ago, will be among those aboard. The exact time of departure and the course she is to follow will be determined after a careful study of the probable weather conditions over the Atlantic. The flight is being undertaken as part of the Air Ministry’s development of its policy for airships with the object of testing out the reliability and behaviour of the airship ou long distance flights. Data Will also be acquired which will be of value in deciding upon a full

policy with regard to the development of airships for commercial purposes, with particular reference to speeding up Empire communications. When RIOO was designed she was approximately twice the size of the largest airship, and she and her sister airship, RlOl, are still the largest in the world. The experimental nature of the flight, therefore, is emphasised, for the vessel incorporates many novel features. This will be the second flight of a British airship across the Atlantic The first occasion was in July, 1919, when R 34 made the first aircraft flight from east to west. The ship made a successful return flight a few days later. RIOO, which is equipped with six Rolls-Roj'ce Condor engines, each developing 650 li.p., has a gross lift of over 156 tons. She is 709 feet long, and has a maximum diameter of 130 feet and a maximum height of 133 feet. She attained a speed of 81 miles an hour during her trials. The airship will have on board food for five days and one day’s emergency rations. Five hundred gallons of drinking and washing water are being carried. Throughout the journey the vessel will be in constant wireless communication with land stations. Later. RIOO will leave at 3.30 o’clock on Tuesday morning. It is not a question of weather permitting, as strenuous trials in every variety of weather have satisfied the designers that the airship is capable of overcoming the worst Atlantic conditions.